Raspberry halva crumble bars with sumac and rose
Using the same crumble mix for both the top and bottom of these bars makes them super-quick to put together. Once cut into small squares, they’re very transportable, too, so are ideal for your next picnic. Frozen berries will also work very well here, so you can make these long after the summer glut has gone.
20 mins
Prep
1 hr 20 mins
Cook
16 bars
Serving size
Ingredients
For the crumble
225g plain flour
70g caster sugar
50g light brown sugar
⅛ tsp baking powder
¼ tsp salt
175g unsalted butter, melted
40g tahini
1 tsp vanilla bean paste or extract
For the filling
200g halva
300g fresh raspberries (or frozen and defrosted when not in season)
35g caster sugar
1 tbsp cornflour
1¼ tsp sumac
1 tsp good-quality rose water (if you don’t like floral water, use vanilla bean paste instead)
For the raspberry drizzle (optional)
25g fresh raspberries, mashed with a fork (or frozen, defrosted)
5 tbsp icing sugar
½ tsp good-quality rosewater (or vanilla bean paste)
½ tbsp lemon juice (or water)
Method
1. Heat the oven to 170C (160C)/350F/gas 4, and grease and line the base and sides of a 22cm square brownie tin with greaseproof paper.
2. Put the first five ingredients in a medium bowl and stir to combine, add the melted butter, tahini and vanilla, and mix again – the crumble mix will at this stage seem quite soft.
3. Measure out 300g of the crumble mix into the prepared tin, smooth out over the base of the tin using the back of a spoon, then bake for 20 minutes. Meanwhile, refrigerate the remaining crumble mix.
4. Remove the tin from the oven, turn up the heat to 180C (170C fan)/375F/gas 5 and crumble the halva evenly over the baked crumble base. In a medium bowl, mix the raspberries, sugar, cornflour, half a teaspoon of the sumac and the rosewater, then spoon evenly over the halva. Take the remaining crumble from the fridge and scatter it evenly over the fruit mix. Return the tin to the oven and bake again for 45-50 minutes, turning it once halfway, until the top crumble layer is nicely golden and the fruit juices are starting to bubble. Remove the tin from the oven, place it on a wire rack and leave to cool completely.
5. Meanwhile, make the drizzle by mashing the 25g raspberries with the icing sugar, rose water, lemon juice and the remaining three-quarters of a teaspoon of sumac. Pour the drizzle over the cooled bake, then unmould, cut into bars or squares, pack into an airtight box and eat within two days.